Is Eating Healthy Really Worth It?

If you read my post, Transitioning to Clean Food, you realize what a daunting task it is to truly avoid the toxic food that is part of our SAD American Diet (Standard American Diet).   Eating organic vegetables and fruits and grass-fed/free range meats and dairy is expensive.  So is it really worth the cost?

Right now our family spends about 20% of our budget on food and supplements for the four of us, which is comparable to what many people in other countries spend on food. The average American spends less than 10% of their budget on food. I used to believe that buying the cheapest food was the way to go. Now I realize that I can’t fuel my body with cheap, nutrition-less (and often toxic) food and expect excellent health, lots of energy, clear thinking and longevity.

• 1 in 3 at risk for Diabetes in America
• Cancer Rates in America: 1 in 2 will get cancer
• 1 in 3 Americans is Obese
• US Life Expectancy Ranks 36th in the World and falling – The next generation will die younger than their parent’s generation did.
• Pentagon says 75% of America Youth too Sick, Dumb and Fat to serve in the Military
• American Babies are Born with over 250 Chemicals in their blood – most are linked to cancer and other diseases
• 1 on 88 kids and 1 in 54 boys has autism in USA in 2012 and the numbers are rising
• 1 out of 4 Americans has diagnosable mental illness.  The United States is poised to rank No. 1 globally for mental illness
• Pesticides in kids linked to ADHD (ADHD affects 4.5 million U.S. kids)
• 1.5 million heart attacks occur in the United States each year with 500,000 deaths. 

I often wonder why we Americans are we so willing to pay top dollar for stuff (tvs, computers, houses, etc…) while treating our own bodies so poorly. We certainly wouldn’t put cheap fuel in our gas tank if we knew it would burn up the engine quickly, require more time at the shop and shorten the lifespan of the car by decades.  Frankly, there seems to be a mindset that says, “If I feel OK I’ll eat whatever I want and then, when I get sick/diseased, I’ll just go to the doctor and get some drugs, surgery, or chemo to take care of it.”

Unfortunately, over 100,000 people die every year from taking prescription drugs exactly as they are prescribed by their doctor.  Pharmaceutical drugs often interact with other drugs to cause more problems and frequently result in side effects that have to be treated with still more drugs.  NO THANK YOU!  I’m just as interested in quality of life as I am in quantity and I believe the quality comes with prevention.  Eating healthy  empowers me to take control of my health and my future.  Sure, it’s not a guarantee that I’ll never get sick or get cancer, but it certainly stacks the odds in my favor, plus I’ll have a stronger immune system to fight with.

So, yes, we spend a lot on food but in the days to come I’ll be exploring more ways to get the same quality of food for less as I continue on this journey. I understand that many people simply can’t afford to eat 100% clean but everyone can take baby steps.  That’s how we started.  I truly believe that if the American people start demanding quality when it comes to food, then the food companies will respond.  It’s already happening but the only way we can effect change is with our dollars.  I vote every time I go to the grocery store and so do you.   Why not vote for health and for a sustainable future for all of us?

More Reasons to be Diligent in Nutrition and Become Informed about Toxins in the Environment:

• The skyrocketing of childhood allergies and asthma
• The prevalence of Genetically Modified foods in the diet
• The 60,000 chemicals to which we’re exposed in our air, food, and water
• The unprecedented number of vaccines mandated today
• The epidemic of autism in the US, between 2 and 4 million
• The absence of regulation for the safety of foods in our supermarkets
• The eternal advertising of drugs, drugs, and more drugs
• Side effects of drugs as a primary cause of death